Ecology & Ecosystems
the study of the interactions between organisms and their interrelationships with the physical environment
Who produces their own food?
What is an autotroph?
I eat primary consumers.
What is a secondary consumer?
I am a population that has been drastically reduced and consists of endangered species.
What is an unstable population?
What type of biome occupies the largest area of Earth?
When a population levels off and is kept in check, the growth slows down due to what?
What are limiting factors?
I am the organism that is hunted versus I am the organism that is hunting other organisms.
What is prey? vs. What is predator?
Where is the most amount of energy found in a food pyramid?
What about the least?
What is the bottom of the food pyramid?
What is the top of the food pyramid?
The removal or cutting down of trees is called
Deforestation
What is the difference between latitude and longitude?
What is the distance north or south of the equator and what is the distance above or below sea level?
What is the difference between abiotic factors and biotic factors? State 2 examples for each!
What are non-living components of the ecosystem? (temperature, sunlight, water, soil, pH)
What are living components of the ecosystem? (producers, consumers, decomposers?
In terms of trophic levels, what is the relationship between mice and wheat?
What is a consumer and producers?
What is the type of organism that is not visible in a food pyramid but must be present in this ecosystem to recycle the remains of dead organisms?
What is a decomposer?
The number of organisms that an area of land can sustain over a long period of time is known as what?
What is carrying capacity?
Which biome is characterized by moderate precipitation, cold winters, warm summers, and plants losing their leaves in the winter?
What is a temperate deciduous forest?
How would you define the term niche? Explain the niche of a decomposer.
In the nitrogen cycle, decomposers break down nitrogen compounds and release what compound?
What is ammonia?
Rank the following trophic levels in order from bottom to top: decomposers, producers, tertiary consumers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers.
What direction is the flow of energy traveling?
What are producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers, and tertiary consumers? Decomposers are within every level.
What is flowing from bottom to top?
Name the aspects that define primary succession.
What are the characteristics of a tropical rainforest?
What is the order of these terms from least complex to most complex?
- Biosphere - Ecosystem
- Population -Species
- Biome -Communities
What is a species, population, community, ecosystem, biome, biosphere?
What are the three symbiotic relationships and their definitions? Provide an example for each.
- What is Mutualism? Both organisms benefit from the relationship. (Flowers and bees)
- What is Commensalism? One organism benefits, and the other is unaffected. (Remora fish and sharks)
- What is Parasitism? One organism benefits (the parasite) and the other is harmed (the host)
Frogs sometimes eat crickets. A pesticide is sprayed to kill the crickets. State one effect this spraying might have on the food web.
What is having the frog population decrease?
What is a population that remains constant and is kept in check by limiting factors?
What is a population that involves rapid reproduction leading to a population explosion, and followed by a drastic population decline?
What is the correct order of biomes starting from the North Pole to the Equator?
What is tundra, taiga, temperate deciduous forest, grassland, desert, and tropical rain forest?